Mileage Reimbursement Calculator

What this calculator does

This calculator turns business miles into a dollar figure. Enter the miles you drove for business and the applicable IRS standard mileage rate, and it returns the reimbursement amount and, for the self-employed, the value of the deduction against your tax.

The standard mileage rate exists so that drivers do not have to track fuel, insurance, servicing, tyres, and depreciation separately. The IRS sets a single per-mile figure each year intended to approximate the full cost of operating a vehicle, and using it means you claim that amount and nothing else, with parking and tolls as the only permitted additions.

When to use it

The everyday use is preparing an expense claim, where you have a mileage log and need the amount to submit. It is also how a self-employed driver values the deduction at year end, and how a business estimates what a role involving regular client visits will actually cost to reimburse.

It is worth running before choosing between the standard rate and the actual expense method, since the answer depends entirely on your vehicle. A cheap, efficient, high-mileage car usually does better on the standard rate, while an expensive vehicle driven relatively few business miles often does better on actual costs. That decision is partly locked in from the first year the vehicle is used for business, so it deserves attention up front.

Understanding the inputs

Business miles means miles driven for a business purpose, which excludes commuting between home and a regular workplace entirely. Trips between work sites, to clients, to the bank or supplier, and to temporary assignments qualify. If you have a qualifying home office, travel from it to a business destination counts.

The rate field should carry the IRS standard mileage rate for the relevant tax year, which was 70 cents per mile for business use in 2025 and is revised annually, occasionally mid-year when fuel prices move sharply. Do not use the business rate for medical or charitable driving: those have their own much lower rates, and the charitable rate is fixed by statute at 14 cents rather than adjusted for inflation.

How is this calculated?

Reimbursement = Miles × Rate per Mile.

A worked example

Take 12,000 business miles in 2025 at the 70 cent business rate, giving a reimbursement or deduction of $8,400. If your employer reimburses that under an accountable plan, you receive $8,400 tax-free and nothing appears on your W-2.

If you are self-employed instead, the $8,400 is a deduction rather than a payment, reducing both income tax and self-employment tax. For someone in the 22 percent bracket, the combined saving is roughly a third of the deduction, or close to $3,000. Compare that with the actual expense method: if you drove 20,000 total miles, 60 percent for business, and your full annual vehicle costs including depreciation were $9,000, the actual method would yield $5,400. The standard rate wins by $3,000 in this case.

Limitations and assumptions

This is an estimate, not tax advice, and the IRS is the authority. The calculator does the multiplication; it cannot tell you whether a given trip qualifies as business mileage, which is where nearly all disputes arise. Commuting, personal errands combined with business stops, and travel to a workplace you attend regularly are common areas of error.

It does not handle the actual expense method, depreciation schedules, Section 179 or bonus depreciation, leased vehicle inclusion amounts, the differing medical, moving, and charitable rates, or mid-year rate changes that require splitting the year into two calculations. Employer reimbursement policies may differ from the IRS rate, and amounts above it are taxable wages. The rate is revised annually, so confirm the figure for the year you are claiming, and keep a contemporaneous log regardless of which method you use.